Newtown Residents React To Starbucks Firearms Request

NEWTOWN — Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, has asked gun owners to refrain from bringing weapons into the chain's stores, even if local gun laws, as in Connecticut, allow properly permitted gun owners to carry their weapons openly.

Schultz did not mention the Aug. 9 "Starbucks Appreciation Day" rally at the Newtown Starbucks store in his "Open Letter To Americans," published Tuesday on the company's website. But the strong feelings instilled by that gathering were still evident Wednesday in the town where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators Dec. 14.

Schultz said he was writing in response to the appreciation day rallies staged by pro-gun activists at Starbucks stores across the country. At the Newtown store, pro-gun activists arrived at the store Aug. 9 to find that it had closed early.

The Seattle-based coffee chain's longstanding policy is to honor local gun laws, including "open carry" regulations in many U.S. states that allow people to wear carry their firearms openly.

In his statement, Schultz did not take a formal stance in the gun-control debate, but asked customers to leave their guns at home. He said the appreciation day events "disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of 'open carry.' To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores."

Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Riley said Wednesday the events, including the one at the Newtown store, put the corporation in the middle of both sides of the gun debate. "That's a debate we didn't want to be a part of," she said. "We're in the business of serving coffee."

Many Newtown residents and business owners said Wednesday that the Starbucks on Church Hill Road has become a battleground of sorts in the gun debate. The store is perched on a hill just beyond St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, where funerals were held for some of the victims killed during the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Riley said the company is sensitive to the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and pointed out that "one of our [employees] was a substitute teacher and lost her life in Newtown on that day," a reference to teacher Lauren Rousseau.

"Obviously it's a sensitive issue for not only people in this town, but for the country," said Newtown resident Molly Murtha outside the Starbucks store. "It doesn't do anyone any good to bring guns in here."

Down the road in the heart of Sandy Hook, restaurant owners and patrons expressed similar sentiments. "It sounds like we're going into the Wild West now," said resident John Leibold. "It seems Starbucks got targeted."

At MD Shooting Sports, a gun store in nearby Monroe, owner Mike DeLuca said he can understand Schultz's statement.

"If I was the CEO of Starbucks, I probably would've said the same thing," DeLuca said. "His comment, from what I read, is that he said, 'I'd prefer if you didn't, but we're not going to tell you that you can't.'"

DeLuca said he stopped by the appreciation day rally in Newtown. "I think people interpreted the open carry rally wrong," he said. "The reason people went [to Starbucks] was because they wanted to show that gun owners come from all walks of life — doctors, lawyers, school teachers."

Newtown Action Alliance, a gun control advocacy group, issued a statement commending Schultz's stance. "This is truly an important and hopeful step on the road toward shifting the culture of American cities to one of peace and respect ... While this is not a ban it is certainly a step in the right direction ..."

Schultz said that over the last six months, more people have been bringing guns into Starbucks shops, prompting confusion and dismay among some customers and employees.

"We've seen the 'open carry' debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening," Schultz wrote, noting that "some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction," at times soliciting and confronting employees and patrons.

"We found ourselves in a position where advocates on both sides of the issue were using Starbucks as a staging ground for their own political position."

Schultz said Starbucks will not ban guns in its nearly 7,000 company-owened cafes, saying that would potentially require staff to confront armed customers.

"We will continue to serve customers, even if they don't comply with the request," Riley said. "We're just hoping that people will be respectful and not bring weapons into the store."